The Institute of Financial Planning is supporting the campaign for more financial education in schools.

The petition, organised by Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis, has over 100,000 signatures.

The petition is trying to make financial education a compulsory part of the school curriculum.

It states: “We’re a financially illiterate nation, with millions caught by misselling, overborrowing and being ripped off. Is it any surprise we’ve just had a debt imbued financial crisis.

“We have one of the world’s most complex consumer economies; it’s time our children were taught how to thrive and survive in it.”

Last week the petition reached 100,000 signatures and was notified in the House of Commons.

The Government’s current position is that young people should have a financial education but that it is already a part of pupils’ Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education.

However, PSHE is not compulsory in schools and neither is financial education a substantial part of it.

Sue Whitbread, communications director at the IFP, said: “There’s so much talk about helping people and taking action to improve finances and that starts with children learning about money.

“This is a serious action to help children understand how to handle money and how not to handle money which is the only sensible way to stop the huge increases in personal debt over the last 20 years.”

The campaign ties in with the IFP’s Financial Planning Week to improve peoples financial ‘fitness’.

Freedom Financial Planning in Derbyshire is teaching a class of 11 year olds at its local primary school about borrowing, debt, savings and budgets.

The petition is available to sign until 12 February. To add your name visit http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/8903